


Aut viam inveniam aut faciam

by Nary



Category: Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly
Genre: Classical References, Gen, Name Changes, Names, Pseudonyms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 14:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3384287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nary/pseuds/Nary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He could no longer in good conscience call himself by the name he'd been given at birth, even if it wouldn't have risked drawing unwanted attention and spoiling the effort he'd put into faking his death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aut viam inveniam aut faciam

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Brigdh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brigdh/gifts).



> For the prompt "You're on the lam, you're on the run / Don't give your name, you don't have one" (Wait for Me - Anais Mitchell)

He could no longer in good conscience call himself by the name he'd been given at birth, even if it wouldn't have risked drawing unwanted attention and spoiling the effort he'd put into faking his death. He had renounced any right to think of himself as Philippa's husband, or Germanicus' father, and had cast aside his title along with his responsibilities and his dignity. It would be better, he thought through his perpetual haze of laudanum and alcohol, to assume a new name, one that wouldn't make him feel as though he was being stabbed in the heart each time he heard it.

He booked passage to New Orleans under the name Hannibal Sefton. It flowed well, he thought, and it amused him in some grim fashion to call himself after the greatest enemy of the Romans, given his family's predilection for classical names. His past might be sown with salt - perhaps his future was as well - and he was being driven into exile, but he would remain unbowed. 

"Aut viam inveniam aut faciam," he murmured to himself as he boarded the ship, and hoped it would be the former, because the latter sounded like an awful lot of work.

**Author's Note:**

> Hannibal's quote is attributed to the original Hannibal, concerning his attempt at crossing the Alps: "I will either find a way, or make one."
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr at [naryrising](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/naryrising) if you want to ask questions, make requests, or chat!


End file.
